Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 567 Turtle in the Urn
On the tenth day of April, the voices were anxious...

When 20,000 troops were crowded in the valley, Yunusi, who led 15,000 cavalry, sat on horseback and did not dare to launch an attack easily.

"Why hasn't Zhagahe come yet?"

Yunusi was holding a telescope in his hand, which was a gift given to his father, Waisi Khan, by the Ming Dynasty a few years ago. Now, in his hand, it had become a sharp weapon for him to observe the battlefield.

Under his observation, he noticed the simple fortifications of the Ming army.

However, there was no sign of unrest in the rear of the Ming army, which did not match the result of him sending people on foot over the mountains to bring the news to Lou Zengmu.

"I'm afraid he was blocked."

A noble beside him spoke, which made Yunusi's face turn pale.

"We must open up the gorge immediately. Otherwise, once the Ming army in the rear notices us, we will have no chance of survival."

"Pass on my military order. Dismount your horses, use the Tegel vehicles as cover, and storm and capture the places they occupy."

As the Ming Dynasty's firearms became known to the world, some countries that were already good at using firearms began to study them in detail.

Although the Eastern Chagatai Khanate did not have many firearms, due to its long-term experience in fighting with the Timurid Empire, it had long been able to use teger carts as cover to defend against stone-shooting cannons.

The Teger chariot can defend against stone-shooting cannons, and naturally it can also defend against the Ming army's flintlock rifles.

For this reason, under Yunusi's order, more than ten Teger carts pulling tents were fixed with circles of tents, and finally pushed by dismounted soldiers to test the Ming army camp which was a few miles away.

This method was actually the chariot camp that Zhu Gaoxu formed in Tieling to fight against Wu Gao's iron cannon during the Jingnan Campaign.

Of course, later, with the end of the Jingnan Campaign and Zhu Gaoxu obtaining the world's most powerful firearms workshop, Cheying disappeared from the Ming army's sight.

The reason is very simple. As Zhu Gaoxu later reformed the Six Military Governorate, the Six Military Governorate officially switched from cold and hot weapons to hot weapons, and more powerful field artillery and siege artillery began to equip the army.

If it weren't for the light cavalry raid, the 5,000-man Jilin Guard would have carried at least 50 field guns, so the existence of a chariot camp would have been unable to withstand the Ming army's artillery fire.

However, since this was a light cavalry raid, they only had a spear and a carbine.

As for products such as grenades, the Imperial Academy has conducted research on them, but the grenades produced by the existing gunpowder technology are not very powerful, unless the grenade weighs several kilograms.

However, this heavy firearm was a burden for the Ming army at the time, because the Ming army's flintlock rifles were enough for the Ming army to pull the enemy.

Even in offensive and defensive battles, the Ming army's flintlock rifles were enough to defeat the enemy.

"Load!"

Seeing the Teger car moving forward driven by more than a hundred Western captives, Chen Mao gave orders in an orderly manner.

Three thousand dismounted cavalrymen aimed their spears against the rammed earth wall, while another thousand were guarding the rammed earth wall on the north side.

Time passed little by little, and as the Teger chariot approached the Ming army fifty steps away, the captain Guo Deng raised the command flag high in his hand.

"Fire arrows!"

"put!"

"Crack, crackle -"

Relying on the Tegel vehicles, some of the Western Tartars' sharpshooters began to shoot arrows, but as soon as they showed up, they would have to face hundreds of people pulling the trigger and feel the life-and-death crisis of bullets whizzing past their ears.

The bulging Teger bag was hit by a large number of bullets, and a few unlucky ones were shot in the feet by the Ming army and knocked to the ground.

Arrows fell like rain and the Ming army lowered their heads one after another.

The arrows could not penetrate the hat-shaped helmets and cloth armor they wore, but they were divided into six groups of three thousand people, shooting back and forth continuously.

The Western Tartars had only advanced more than ten steps when the Teger car was riddled with bullets. Some bullets could easily pass through the bullet holes and hit the people behind.

Of course, such situations were rare, but even so, each round of volleys could take the lives of three to four Western captives.

They advanced more than ten steps, but the Ming army had already rotated into two rounds of twelve groups.

Several Teger vehicles stopped, and the only few Teger vehicles that were moving forward were also stopped by the concentrated fire of the Ming army.

Hundreds of soldiers sacrificed their lives, only to push the Teger chariot to within twenty steps of the Ming army line.

Yunusi saw this scene clearly and he had an idea in his mind.

"The army retreats two miles and sets up camp. We will attack the Ming army camp tomorrow!"

Yunusi knew that the army had not had much rest time and that the first round of attack had already dampened their morale, so there was no need to continue the attack.

Of course, the most important point is that he probably guessed that Lou Zengmu's Zhagahe in the north was probably repelled by the Ming army's divided troops, which made his plan of attacking from the north and the south bankrupt, and he could only attack by force.

Therefore, he must launch a strong attack when the morale and condition of the army are good, not now.

Following his order, more than 14,000 soldiers began to retreat, and Chen Mao saw them retreating and immediately ordered: "Dismantle or burn these vehicles, don't block the road."

He knew very well that the Ming army relied on the range and penetration of the flintlock rifles. These chariots blocked the Ming army's strengths and must be resolved.

"My Lord, I'm afraid the Western barbarians will use the same trick again tomorrow."

"That's right. They sent only a few vehicles today and pushed us so close. I'm afraid they will send more tomorrow and push us even closer."

"Uncle, are we going to sit and wait for death?"

Several thousand-household officials bowed and saluted, but Chen Mao was as steady as a rock: "If he wants to use a car to push forward, we also have our own way."

"Pass the order down, assign 3,000 men to dig trenches 200 steps away from this wall. Dig a trench every 200 steps. Each trench must be large enough to accommodate 500 men!"

Chen Mao wanted to use trenches and low angles to deal with this group of people. Unless their feet were off the ground, the Ming army would focus on hitting their feet!
"Yes!"

Several thousand-household officials bowed in response. At this time, news came from the Tangqi in the north: "My Lord, Captain Zhu repelled Lou Zengmu's reinforcements and captured 742 soldiers!"

"Good!" Upon hearing Zhu Qiyue's performance, Chen Mao immediately waved his hand and said, "Record the military achievement!"

"Um... do I still need to remember it?" The thousand-household officials around were a little embarrassed. After all, Zhu Qiyue's status could be said to be the best reward he could get.

"Whether to reward or not is up to His Majesty, you just need to make a note of it."

After Chen Mao gave the order, he sent Guo Deng to check Zhu Qiyue's battle results and see if he was injured.

Zhu Qiyue was not injured, but his back was like a hedgehog, with dozens of arrows piercing his back.

It was not because he was conspicuous by his flashy outfit, but because this guy could speak Mongolian, and during repeated battles, he would occasionally say a few simple greetings to Lou Zengmu's Western Tartar cavalry.

As he looked like a leader, most of the arrows were shot at him. Even the horse under him was unlucky and was hit by seven or eight arrows in the buttocks.

When Guo Deng rushed over, he saw Zhu Qiyue raising his hands and asking someone to pull out the arrow for him.

At the same time, his horses were wailing as the soldiers pulled out the arrows. Disinfection after each extraction was particularly important.

"Qian Hu, you are not hurt?"

"No, no, these Western barbarians are vicious. They shot a lot of arrows at my back. Fortunately, I was wearing armor, otherwise I would have lost my life here."

Zhu Qiyue patted his armor, and the captain beside him glanced at him but dared not say anything.

Zhu Qiyue felt guilty about being shot by arrows at first, but as he was shot by more and more arrows, he was no longer afraid, so he began to greet the enemy generals with words, which led to this incident.

Not only was he shot with arrows, but the people around him were also given special care.

If the centurions had not had to obey orders, they would probably have wanted to stay three feet away from Zhu Qiyue.

"Qian Hu, although it won't hurt your flesh, it will still hurt a little."

Guo Deng signaled for people to take off Zhu Qiyue's armor, but Zhu Qiyue hadn't reacted yet.

As his armor was taken off, the mandarin duck-patterned battle jacket underneath was removed, revealing his blue back.

"Tsk tsk..."

Even Guo Deng couldn't help but be amazed a few times, then he asked for some medicinal wine and kneaded Zhu Qiyue.

It would have been fine if he hadn't kneaded it, but as soon as he did, Zhu Qiyue immediately started to grimace.

"It didn't hurt just now, but now it hurts immediately!"

"Be careful, Qianhu..."

Guo Deng held back his laughter as he rubbed a word for Zhu Qiyue. It was not until the small bottle of medicinal wine was used up that he signaled Zhu Qiyue to put on his clothes.

Zhu Qiyue put on his clothes with a grimace, and with the help of others, he returned to the camp to rest.

He couldn't lie down, so he could only lie prone to rest.

"After a night's rest, it shouldn't affect our activities tomorrow."

Guo Deng gave some instructions and then asked someone to hunt some wild animals for him to eat.

As the sky gradually darkened, the first battle at the mouth of Mohe City Gorge ended like this.

However, compared to Mohe City, which could rest after dark, Turpan City was facing an unprecedented intensity at this moment.

"Fire and load, keep the same angle, ready... fire!"

"Boom boom boom boom——"

There was a dull sound of artillery fire and a flash of fire. Hundreds of cannons fired iron shells at the same time, destroying the walls of Turpan City that Yunus boasted was strong before the war.

From dusk till now, the Ming army has only bombarded Turpan for an hour, and Turpan could no longer withstand the attack.

A large area of ​​the city wall collapsed and it seemed that it could not be defended. In addition, the incident at the Mohe City Gorge spread, and the people in the city were in unrest. Many generals were persuading Yesenbuhua and Bukabek to retreat under the cover of night.

Originally Yesenbuhua was still hesitating, but after hearing the Ming army's artillery fire that seemed to never stop, he finally made up his mind to retreat.

"Retreat to Chalishi and let the Ming army and Yunusi fight each other. We will take the opportunity to transfer the herdsmen in southern Xinjiang to the river valley!"

Yesenbuhua chose to abandon Yunusi at the critical moment. Anyway, the two of them had been fighting for the throne before the war. If both of them retreated successfully, they would only continue to fight for the Khanate in the Transoxiana region.

It would be better to take this opportunity to abandon Yunusi, and then lead the herdsmen from Nanjiang and Yilibali to retreat to the river.

Yesenbuhua's idea was agreed by Bukabek, so they quickly abandoned the city of Turpan and began to retreat to Chalishi with more than 20,000 people.

Braving the dark night, many people fell behind due to lack of horsepower.

However, their plan had already been predicted by Zhu Gaoxu, and the person responsible for intercepting them was the Tatar official Mao Zhong who was sent out by Zhu Gaoxu before the siege.

"Yesenbuhua, the commander of the Hami Guard, Mao Zhong, has been waiting for you here for a long time in compliance with the order of the Ming Emperor!"

In the darkness, fire suddenly appeared. Before Yesenbuhua could retreat twenty miles away, he was blocked in a Gobi desert by Mao Zhong and his three thousand men.

"Mao Zhong, you and I are both Mongolians, why do you have to embarrass me? If you let me go today, I will definitely..."

"Bullshit! I am a Han Chinese now!"

Seeing Yesenbuhua actually said that he was a Mongolian, Mao Zhong, who had been naturalized as a Ming Dynasty citizen since his father's generation, was immediately upset and cursed back. "Mao Zhong, you..."

Yesenbuhua Mao Zhonghui was so shameless as to say that he is now a Han Chinese.

"Hit me!"

"Crack, crackle -"

Under the firelight, the Ming army stopped their horses and pulled the triggers. After firing the bullets from their rifles, they put the rifles on their backs and began to use them against the enemy.

Yesenbuhua's group was caught off guard and when they finally reacted, they saw Mao Zhong leading three thousand cavalrymen charging towards them with torches and carbines.

"Do it!"

Yesen Buhua drew his bow and arrow, and suddenly a sound similar to a whistling arrow came from Mao Zhong's team.

"Oh!"

Fireworks bloomed on the Gobi Desert in Turpan, not just one, but continuously.

This scene was soon discovered by the Ming army outside the Ming army. Zhu Neng immediately gave the order:
"Zhu Yong, lead 5,000 cavalrymen to the direction of Mao Zhong. Yesen Buhua should have broken through."

"The rest of you, attack Turpan City fiercely. They probably don't have many people left to defend the city!"

"Yes!!"

Following Zhu Neng's order, more than 20,000 regular troops began to fight separately, while 40,000 auxiliary troops were responsible for protecting the central army and baggage.

"kill!!"

In the dark night, Yesenbuhua and the cavalry led by Bukabek fought several times, but Mao Zhong avoided fighting and just charged with his lance and then retreated, in order to consume the horsepower of Yesenbuhua's troops.

"We can't go on like this. Let's break out to Chalishi. He only has 3,000 men and won't dare to chase us too far!"

During the battle, Bukabek gave timely suggestions to Yesenbuhua.

Since Mao Zhong arrived here two hours earlier, his troops had plenty of horsepower, while Yesenbuhua and his men were short on horsepower due to continuous travel and fighting.

Yesenbuhua also knew that his own army was not strong enough, so he responded without hesitation: "Order the army to retreat to Chalisi, and use the rain of arrows to stop them from pursuing."

"Yes!" Bukabek breathed a sigh of relief and immediately issued military orders, ordering the army not to engage in a tangle with the Ming army but to break out directly.

Soon, as their tactics changed, Mao Zhong's 3,000 men alone could not stop them from breaking out.

The two sides fought as they moved, and soon they were more than ten miles away from their original position.

Fortunately, there were enough artillery fire in the army, and Mao Zhong kept firing them, while also leaving some Tangqi to guide the subsequent reinforcements.

"Boom boom boom——"

At three quarters past three in the morning, under the Ming army's day and night bombardment, a large section of the Turpan city wall was finally destroyed in a volley of artillery fire.

Tens of thousands of regular troops poured into Turpan City and captured or killed the remaining Western Tartar troops.

A soldier holding the Ming army's flag rushed to the city gate tower, kicked Yesenbuhua's flag away in the firelight, and inserted the Ming army's flag on the tall city gate tower.

"Send the victory report to His Majesty. The regular soldiers will rest for two hours and wait for my orders after daybreak!"

Zhu Neng did not expect that attacking Turpan City would be so easy. From the time the Ming army arrived at the city of Turpan to Yesenbuhua abandoning the city and fleeing, to their capture of Turpan City, the entire process took only three hours.

If they can maintain this pace, it will only take a few months to take over the entire Western Region.

The good news was sent to the rear, and Zhu Yong in the front, under the guidance of the Tangqi left by Mao Zhong, caught up with Mao Zhong with the speed of three horses, and also caught up with Yesenbuhua who was fleeing in the front.

Relying on sufficient horsepower, Zhu Yong had a brief meeting with Mao Zhong, then led 5,000 cavalry to bypass the left and right wings of the Western Tartars and finally blocked them.

"Sorry..."

The horse under Yesenbuhua was very tired, and the horses of the other soldiers were even more so.

"We can't retreat. There are at least five or six thousand of them. We are no match for them!"

Bukabek was no longer as calm as he was at the beginning. He was breathing heavily. Seeing this, Yesenbuhua could only rein in his horse and ordered his attendants, "Go north!"

"The northern gorge has not been opened yet. Going north is like being shut out and beaten."

Bukabek tried to dissuade him, but Yesenbuhua pointed his whip at Zhu Yong's troops in front of him and asked, "If we can't get through here, where else can we go?"

Yesenbuhua had never expected that they would lose in horsepower to the Han people who only knew how to farm.

He knew very well that the Ming army did not want him to go to Chalishi, but they were still more than 500 miles away from Chalishi.

With a journey of more than 500 miles, these thousands of Ming soldiers could be exhausted to death with their muskets, so they could only follow the route left for them by the Ming army to head to the entrance of Mohe City Gorge.

After a quarrel with Bukabek, they finally had to go north.

Facts have proved that the entrance to Mohecheng Gorge was the graveyard left for them by the Ming army, because after they chose to go to the entrance to Mohecheng Gorge, neither Mao Zhong nor the Ming army that supported them launched another attack on them.

From night to dawn, on the early morning of April 11, Yunusi, who was still unaware that Turpan City had been captured, launched an attack on Chen Mao.

"Uuuuuu——"

The horns sounded, and the Ming army put on their armor and prepared for battle. Due to his performance yesterday, Zhu Qiyue was still sent to the north to deal with Lou Zengmu's cavalry.

Originally, Zhu Qiyue thought it was unnecessary because the cavalry had been severely damaged by him yesterday, but facts proved that Chen Mao was right.

Because after returning to Lou Zengmu, the cavalry yesterday decisively recruited more men to march south.

"This scale is probably no less than 7,000 people..."

Looking at the huge crowd of people and horses in the telescope, the centurion swallowed his saliva, while Zhu Qiyue looked through the telescope and smiled:

"They do have seven times as many people as we do, but they are just temporary recruits. You see, they don't even have armor. We can kill them with our lances from fifty steps away."

"Pass the message to the brothers below. Today's assault distance is changed to fifty steps. Be careful of the sharpshooters hidden among these people. Do not take off your visor no matter how uncomfortable it is to wear it."

After yesterday's battle, Zhu Qiyue was more experienced and he soon knew the true intentions of Lou Zengmu's garrison commander Zhagahe.

The herdsmen were used as cannon fodder, and then the elite cavalry relied on the herdsmen's rain of arrows to suppress and pursue their own side, and finally forced their side to engage in hand-to-hand combat with them.

Zhagahe’s idea is good, but he won’t be fooled.

"This Zhaga and I have heads made of granite, and he thinks I have a head made of stone."

Zhu Qiyue moved his shoulders and the smile on his face was stiff, as if he was affected by yesterday's injury.

"Qian Hu, are you okay?"

The centurion asked worriedly, but Zhu Qiyue waved his hand and said, "It's okay. I guess I have to be more careful today. It won't be pleasant if I suffer the same thing as yesterday."

When Zhu Qiyue said this, the centurion was also ashamed.

If Zhu Qiyue had not greeted the other party politely yesterday, they would not have been targeted.

Of course, I thought so, but I didn’t dare say it out loud.

"Uuuuuu——"

The sound of trumpets came from the front, obviously the Western Tartar army had discovered them.

"Prepare for war!"

At Zhu Qiyue's order, more than 900 brothers who were not injured or only slightly injured yesterday began to make preparations.

Just as they were making full preparations, Yunusi's army was pushing one Teger vehicle after another towards the gorge where the Ming army was stationed.

"Fire arrows!"

More than thirty Tegel vehicles blocked the gorge, followed by nearly a thousand people.

Apparently Yunusi had learned from yesterday's lesson and knew that as long as someone pushed the cart, it could be pushed to the front of the Ming army.

The fact was just as Yunusi had expected. The Teger car wrapped in a tent moved from a hundred steps away to within fifty steps.

Every time someone falls down, someone else will take their place and continue pushing the cart.

Gradually, the distance between the two sides became closer and closer, until the first Teger vehicle hit the rammed earth wall of the Ming army.

"Collide!!"

Yunusi saw this scene and shouted excitedly while sitting on the horse!
With his roar, the Western Tartar soldiers in front knew what they should do without being told by anyone.

They pushed the Tegel cars and continuously hit the rammed earth walls, which were not particularly strong to begin with, so after being hit by more than thirty Tegel cars, some collapsed soon appeared.

"Five hundred soldiers from the front army will retreat to the first trench, and the troops in the first trench will provide cover!"

Chen Mao was always paying attention to the battlefield. After discovering that the rammed earth wall was collapsing, he immediately abandoned the not-so-strong rammed earth wall.

Under his military order, more than 500 Ming troops behind the rammed earth wall began to retreat.

Of course, at this time some people had already engaged in close combat with the Western Tartars, but with the joint efforts of the Ming army, those Western Tartars who climbed over the rammed earth wall were basically killed on the spot.

In the end, except for a dozen injured soldiers who were sent to the rear for recuperation, the remaining more than 480 soldiers retreated to the first trench.

They raised their spears and aimed again, while the troops under Yunusi also knocked down the rammed earth wall.

"Move the carts to the sides and send out a hundred cavalrymen to test the strength of the Ming army!"

Yunusi did not launch a general attack directly, but instead tested the Ming army first, because he did not believe that the Han people, who were good at offensive and defensive battles, had only this line of defense.

"Buzz rumbling..."

The power of more than a hundred cavalrymen galloping cannot be underestimated, but times have changed. In a place like a gorge, the cavalry cannot exert their power at all.

"put!"

"Crack, crackle -"

As the Ming soldiers in the trenches pulled the trigger, the hundreds of Western Tartar cavalry fell in batches as expected.

In the gorge, their numbers were too dense, and the Ming army could hit them without aiming.

More than a hundred cavalrymen fell to the ground before they could even advance fifty steps, and their blood flowed into the Baiyang River, dyeing the not-so-clear river blood red.

"Great Khan, what should we do?"

A noble asked Yunusi, but Yunusi raised his hand with a dark face.

"If one hundred people don't work, then one thousand people. If one thousand people don't work, then ten thousand people. I don't believe that we can't break through!"

(End of this chapter)